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Barakamon Spinoff Anime Handa-kun's Video Shows Cast, Staff, Song Artists, July 7 Premiere

The official website for the television anime of Satsuki Yoshino's Handa-kun manga began streaming the anime's first promotional video on Monday. The video reveals the anime's cast, staff, theme song artist, and July 7 premiere.

The cast includes:

Nobunaga Shimazaki as Sei Handa

Kazuyuki Okitsu as Takao Kawafuji

Yūya Hirose as Junichi Aizawa

Tetsuya Kakihara as Reo Nikaido

Yoshimasa Hosoya as Akane Tsutsui

Daiki Yamashita as Yukio Kondo

Yoshitaka Koyama (Rune Soldier, Noramimi, Kero Kero Chime) is directing the anime at diomedea, while Michiko Yokote (Shirobako, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Dagashikashi) is supervising and penning the series' scripts alongside scriptwriters Mariko Kunisawa (Hatsukoi Limited, Magimoji Rurumo) and Miharu Hirami (Cookin' Idol Ai! Mai! Main!, Blue Spring Ride). Mayuko Matsumoto (Gingitsune, KanColle) is designing the characters. Hanyū is credited for prop design. Kaori Kikuna (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Star Blazers 2199, Kancolle) is credited as art director, while Yoko Matsuhara (Lovely Complex, Arakawa under the Bridge × Bridge) is credited for color design. Yasuyuki Itou (Gingitsune, Kancolle, The Lost Village) is director of photography, while Yuuji Oka (Fairy Tail, KanColle, Looking Up At The Half-Moon) is the editor. Ken Ito (High School DxD New) is composing the music at Lantis. Kengo Kawazoe (Diabolik Lovers, Re-Kan!, Komori-san Can't Decline) is the sound director.

Fo'xTails is performing the opening theme song "The LiBERTY," with the single CD release slated for August 3. Kenichi Suzumura is performing the ending theme song "HIDE-AND-SEEK," with the single CD release slated for August 31.

The anime will premiere on TBS and CBC on July 7, on MBS on July 8, on BS-TBS on July 9, and on TBS Channel 1 on July 17.

The manga is a spinoff of Yoshino's Barakamon manga. Yen Press has licensed Handa-kun and is releasing it digitally and in print. The company describes the first manga volume:

Handsome teenage calligrapher Sei Handa is worshipped by all his classmates as an aloof superstar--too bad Sei's inherent negativity makes him believe that everyone actually hates him...?! A youthful comedy of misunderstanding and melancholy unfolds in the first volume of this hilarious prequel to Barakamon!

Yoshino launched the prequel manga in Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine in October 2013, and Square Enix published the fifth compiled volume in Japan on February 12.

Yoshino launched the Barakamon (pictured at left) slice-of-life comedy manga in Square Enix's Gangan Online magazine in 2009, and Square Enix published the manga's 13th volume on March 12. Yen Press is also publishing Barakamon, and it published the tenth volume on Apirl 19. The manga follows the calligrapher Seishuu Handa after he moves to an island on the westernmost edge of Japan, and learns to live a rural life that he hasn't ever experienced before.

Barakamon inspired a 12-episode TV anime series that premiered in July 2014. Crunchyroll and Funimation both streamed the series as it aired, and Funimation also has the home video rights to the series.

Source: Comic Natalie